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Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has exposed a scandal involving the procurement of spare parts for ambulances, amounting to a staggering US$34.9 million (GHS538 million).
Ablakwa, who also chairs the Economic Committee, revealed that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta approved a payment of US$34.9 million to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited for spare parts for the 307 ambulances purchased by the government in 2019.
“This translates to US$113,695.456 per ambulance, which exceeds the cost of many modern, fully equipped new ambulances,” Ablakwa pointed out.
He questioned the rationale behind signing such an exorbitant deal for spare parts when the same amount could procure new, fully equipped ambulances.
Ablakwa’s investigation further uncovered that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited received a total of GHS653 million from the government for servicing the ambulances between 2020 and 2023, despite an audit report exposing the company’s inflated invoices and subpar service.
“The Auditor-General’s report had extremely damning conclusions about Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, including inflated invoices, using National Ambulance Service staff for maintenance, breaching maintenance schedules, and a MoU that did not benefit the National Ambulance Service,” Ablakwa stated.
He expressed outrage that the government would continue to award contracts to the company despite these findings.
Ablakwa has pledged to petition the Office of the Special Prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation into the scandal.
“Stinky create, loot and share shall be fearlessly defeated! For God and Country. Ghana First,” he declared.
Source:Omanghana.com
